Glossary of Poetic Forms
The following are poetic forms that have appeared in Shot Glass Journal.
Cherita
A short verse that tells a story, created by ai li, UK poet and artist. 6 line narrative poem made up of 3 separate strophes. A single line, a couplet and a tercet.
Cinquain
Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines
Ekphrastic
A poem that is inspired by another art form, such as a painting, sculpture, photograph. The poem defines or describes the artwork.
Epitaph
Something which indicates the salient facts about or characteristics of the deceased. Shortened form of the elegy.
Ghazal
The Ghazal (pronounced "ghuzzle" was developed in Persia in the 10th century AD. It comprises of 5 or more couplets. Each couplet must be a poem in itself. Both lines of the couplet should be of the similar syllable length. Both lines of the first couple must end with the same word or refrain. The second line of all subsequent couplets must end with the same word ending the first couplet. The last couplet could contain an alias or signature of the poet. There can also be a rhyming pattern with the word that precedes the repeated word in the second line of each couplet.
Naani
Naani is one of the Indian popular Telugu poems. It consists of 4 lines with the total lines consists of 20 to 25 syllables. The poem is not bounded to a particular subject. Generally it depends upon human relations and current statements.
Pantoum
The Pantoum is a type of formal verse that is distinguished by cycling refrains. They are written in quatrains, that may be rhymed or unrhymed. The first quatrain consists of four lines. The second quatrain uses the second and fourth lines from the first quatrain as its first and third lines. The second and fourth lines of the second quatrain are new to the poem. The third quatrain uses the second and fourth lines of the second quatrain as its refrains in the first and third line positions. The third quatrain's second and fourth lines are new to the poem. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first.
Pi-Archimedes
A 6 line poetry form base on PI = 3.14286. Each line represents the number of words used from the PI number.
Prose
A poem written in prose rather than verse. It can look like a paragraph or fragmented short story but acts like a poem. It works in sentences rather than lines.
Quandrel
A Quandrel is a poem of twelve lines, with the refrain appearing at the start and repeating twice. It differs from a Roundel in that the middle stanza has an additional line. The refrain establishes the second or 'b' rhyme (abaR baba abaR).